


The Real Prize

by HonestBreath



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Heartbreak, Love, Post-Villa (Love Island: The Game), Press and Tabloids, Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:33:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23704666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonestBreath/pseuds/HonestBreath
Summary: Lucas and Annie walked out of the villa hand-in-hand 3 months ago, winners of Love Island: Season 2.How have things been going for the winning couple as they try to adjust to their new lives?
Relationships: Bobby McKenzie/Main Character (Love Island), Lucas Koh/Main Character (Love Island)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29





	1. What is Love?

“Babes, I don’t know if you want to see this.” Priya said from the kitchen as she poured herself and Annie a glass of wine. It was only 2 in the afternoon, but she knew they would need it after Bobby texted her the link to the article.

“Let me guess, another article about Lucas and some girl at a fancy club in London.” Annie rolled her eyes knowing it couldn’t be anything else.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” she said handing her a glass. “I don't know how to exactly say this…" She took a deep breath, "He’s with Hope.”

Annie’s heart sunk, _Hope? Flirting with random girls at the club is one thing… but someone he knows? Maybe I’m over-reacting. I hang out with Rahim all the time… but Rahim and I weren’t interested in each other while in the villa. He’s like my brother now._

“Let me see.” Annie said firmly. She was tired of seeing photo after photo of Lucas pressed up against some random girl or the tabloids running with rumors of spotting him leaving random apartments at 4 am.

“You sure? It’s umm... a lot.” 

Every time Annie would question him he would always respond ‘Of course I haven’t cheated on you, I love you. You should trust me.’ Or the famous, ‘I’m just having a little bit of fun, I would never actually do anything with those girls.’

“Show me, please.”

Priya nodded and handed her the phone. Annie stared at the screen in disbelief. She felt tears stinging in her eyes as she looked away. Finishing the glass of wine in one swig, she looked back down to scroll through the article’s photo gallery again.

Photo 1: Lucas has a hold of Hope’s wrists in one of his hands and has them raised above her head against the brick wall behind them. His lips are firmly pressed against hers as his other hand is gripping her ass.

 _No denying that picture…_ She let out a scoff.

Photo 2: Her leg was now wrapped around his waist as his lips were now buried into her neck. Her head was thrown back against the wall and her wrists were still tightly held above her head.

_I think I’m going to be sick._

Video: They were in the same position as the second photo. They weren’t just making out on the side of the building… He was thrusting in and out of her, over and over. His hands wandered from her ass to her breasts to her warmth between her legs over and over. The video lasted 18 seconds before showing the restart and next button.

Photo 3: Noah and Hope holding hands, leaving the club together around 2 am.

Annie threw Priya’s phone into the couch, grabbed her empty glass, and stormed into the kitchen.

“Unbelievable. Un-be-lie-va-ble.” She began pouring another glass, filling it to the brim. “Hope. HOPE? Is he fucking serious?”

Priya got up and sat at the bar separating the kitchen from the living room, “I seriously have never hated a girl before in my life… but I can honestly say I hate Hope.” Priya said handing Annie her empty wine glass.

Annie filled Priya’s glass up, “I didn’t want to move to London so he decided to fuck his way around the city? Is that it?” She took a large sip, “He accuses me of cheating because I take ONE phone call from Bobby while we were at the grocery last week, but he goes and does this? I don’t know what’s worse, him doing it with Hope or Hope doing it while Noah was inside probably sitting in the corner waiting for her. You know what? They can have each other.” She said taking another large sip, “I’m done.”

Priya smiled, “Good, if you weren’t going to dump him after that… I was going to have to seriously knock some sense into you.”

Annie ran to the bathroom and clutched the sink with both of her hands and stared at herself in the mirror. Her knuckles began to turn white as she leaned over and tried to focus on her breathing.

_Don’t throw up. Don’t do it. Stop._

Priya walked in and began rubbing her back and holding her hair away from her face as she unleashed the contents of her lunch into the toilet.

_Ugh, great._

She collapsed onto the floor, unable to stop the tears from flowing as her friend held her on the bathroom floor. Her breathing was getting harder and harder as she began to heave and gasp. The walls began closing in on her as she tried to focus on Priya’s words.

“Shhh, breathe.” Priya comforted her by petting her hair, “Breathe.”

It’s been a long time since she had an episode like that. 

After a few moments, her breathing began to steady. “I think I ran out of tears,” Annie said with a weak laugh and stuffy nose, the kind you get after an intense breakdown.

Priya placed a quick, friendly kiss on the top of her head and stood up, reaching down to help Annie stand as well. She pulled her in for a hug, “Thank you for being here for me Pri.”

“You know you’re my girl.”

They both walked back into the kitchen and Annie grabbed her phone off the counter and turned it on, revealing an insane amount of notifications.

Alex (Annie’s brother): Where are you? Are you with him? Call me.

Chelsea: Just saw the article… Call me when you can… I have some more news I have to tell you.

Bobby: 2 Missed Calls

Rahim: 1 Missed Call, voicemail

Lucas: 27 missed calls, 64 messages.

She rolled her eyes and opened Lucas’s messages first.

2:01 am: Hey Baby, just made it back to my hotel. Love you, goodnight. Xx

10:24 am: Where are you? I tried to call you but you didn’t answer.

10:40 am: Are you with Bobby? Hello?

11:03 am: I know you’re at the house. ANSWER ME.

11:16 am: I decided to stay an extra night in London, not that you care. I have some unfinished business I need to take care of.

11:20 am: If you’re with Bobby, we are over.

11:22 am: FUCKING ANSWER MY CALLS

11:32 am: You’re unbelievable. I knew it.

11:34 am: Does he make you feel like I do?

11:40 am: I hope you’re fucking happy

11:41 am: Fuck this. I know you’re up. I saw Priya’s snapchat story. Answer me

12:12 pm: I’m done. Don’t call me. 

2:24 pm: Annie…

2:24 pm: I’m coming home. Please don’t leave.

2:25 pm: It’s not what it looks like. I love you.

2:25 pm: Please answer me.

2:40 pm: I’ll be there in 4 hours.

She didn’t need to read anymore and exited out of his messsges.

“You’re never going to believe this.” Priya looked up at her confused as she continued, “He accused me of cheating on him last night with BOBBY?”

_My best friend._

Priya laughed, “He’s not even worth your energy babes.”

“I’m surprised he hasn’t blown up your phone by now. He knows you’re over here.”

Priya bit her lip nervously, “I may have blocked his number last month when he wouldn’t stop calling me after your phone died the night you, Rahim, Chels, and I went up to Glasgow to visit Bobs…”

Annie buried her face in her hands and let out a huge groan, “How could I have been so stupid.”

“It’s not your fault! I know you don’t want to hear this again, but I have to say it. That boy is emotionally abusive. He has no reason to distrust you… at all! The only other guy you even showed interest in the villa was Rocco and you haven’t even seen him since the finale. You proved your loyalty to him every day while you were in that villa, and every day since and he still treats you like this? Fuck him. He should be worshipping the ground you walk on and thanking the God’s every day you gave him another chance after he cheated on you with Blake.”

Annie stared at her friend in disbelief. _She’s right, I haven’t hung out with Bobby since that night. He was so angry with me… I thought he was going to leave me and I begged him not to. I didn’t even do anything wrong? He wouldn’t stop texting me and calling me so eventually my phone ran out of charge while we were out celebrating Bobby’s grand opening of his bakery. He refused to come with me, making up an excuse about having to go down to London to check on something… What physiotherapist has an emergency appointment at 8 pm on a Saturday?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. She looked through the peephole and was relieved to see Rahim on the other side. She opened the door and he held up two pizza boxes and a bag that revealed 4 bottles of wine.

“I brought reinforcements. Lottie’s on her way too.” He said setting the boxes and wine down on the counter. “She was on her way up to visit Bobby when she saw the article and decided to come by instead.”

Annie gave the pro-golfer a huge hug. “Oh how I’ve missed you, Rahim.”

He hugged her back, giving her a friendly squeeze before letting go, “Missed you too… you’ve been ignoring me.”

Annie frowned. _It’s true, Rahim has been asking to meet up for 3 weeks now, but Lucas always insisted on dragging me down to London for the weekend._

“I’m sorry, I have been really busy with the studio and traveling back and forth from London… It’s been exhausting these past few weeks.”

Her eyes showed it. After their huge fight the night she got home from Glasgow, she promised she would do more to spend time with him. Moving to London made sense for both of them. It would definitely help as there was more opportunities for her music career, but she couldn't bear leaving Manchester yet. She loved her job working for the radio station and being able to DJ and work with some of the upcoming artists in the UK. She had a small side-gig producing music for some lesser-known artists. Her boss, Emily, had always said she had a gift when it came to making music come to life.

She did have a gift. She always wanted to be a performer. She was skilled on the piano and guitar, and her mom quickly took notice, always so supportive of her dream. Using any money they had to spare, she began taking singing lessons to help strengthen her powerful vocals. On her 13th birthday, Annie's mum gifted her with recording equipment and she spent all of her free time recording cover's of songs or writing new music to sing and upload to YouTube. She loved performing at the pub her family owned and the locals would gather in on Thursday nights to hear the little girl sing and play. One day, her mom got a call from a producer saying they wanted to meet with Annie. She couldn't believe it, only 14 years old and gaining attention from big-name producers? It was insane at the time. The work was tiring. Her producer, Clint, suggested home-schooling so they could record during the day versus night, but Annie wasn't ready to leave her friends yet. It was a cold December morning when Annie was finally finishing up recording at the studio. It was only a 10 minute drive from their house, so Annie's mother usually left and would take care of her brother until it was time to go back out and pick her up. They say you're most likely to get into a crash within 5 miles of your home. 

Drunk driver. Head on. Dead on Arrival. 

Annie stopped performing after that night. Instruments were suddenly a foreign object to her every time she tried to mess around on the keys or pluck at the strings of a guitar. She didn't mind singing to herself, but when it came time to do it in front of other people... nothing would come out. She kept in touch with Clint, who put her in contact with Emily for a job down at the station when she finished school. She also began helping out at his studio to try and gain the courage to play again, but has found no success. Now she focuses on bringing the music out of other people, hoping one day she'll be able to bring it out of herself. 

“It’s alright, I understand.” He said snapping her out of her thoughts. He turned his attention to the other side of the room, “Priya, good to see you. Looking gorgeous as ever.”

She hit his arm playfully, “You’re so full of shit.” Bringing him in for a brief hug and giggling.

Annie always thought they would make such a cute couple, but they didn’t have that ‘spark’ when they were coupled up in the villa. They definitely found each other attractive, but they decided they were much better as friends and there wasn’t much romance there.

He pulled one of the wine glasses out of the cabinet and began pouring himself some of the already open wine, finishing the first bottle of the afternoon as Annie began putting the wine he brought into the fridge. “How have you been, Rahim?”

Before he could answer, there was another knock on the door.

“It’s Lottie, she just texted me that she was getting out of the taxi.”

Annie opened the door and found the goth standing there with a bottle of wine, ice cream, and a large suitcase behind her.

“I came as soon as I saw.” She said walking in and setting her items on the counter. Turning to look at Priya and Rahim, she continued “I haven’t seen you two since… Well I don’t think I’ve seen you two since the finale.” Lottie frowned, “You two have to come visit Gary and I, he misses everyone.” She then smirked mischievously, “Where’s your bed? I need to do a cleanse before you even THINK about sleeping there again. I might do this whole house actually. Rahim, do you mind getting my crystals out?”

Annie smiled, “We can do all that later. Right now I really just want to catch up with you and Rahim. I haven’t seen any of you in ages.” She frowned.

Lottie pulled her in for a hug, “Oh babes, you know I’m always here for you.”

“I know.” Annie smiled back and pulled down another wine glass for Lottie. “I was just asking Rahim how he had been.”

“I’ve been alright. It’s been tough trying to get back into the swing of things at work.” Annie chuckled at his golf joke, “I’ve really been just focusing on myself after Jo left me.”

Lottie interrupted, “Wait, sorry, but what happened? I thought you two were really serious.”

Rahim looked down with gloomy eyes into his wine, “I thought we were too. Not even 1 week after the finale she broke up with me. She said it was only for the show and she didn’t actually like me.”

Rahim was heartbroken for weeks after that. He really did love her. He came over the day after and even Lucas was being nice to him. He stayed in one of the spare bedrooms for a few days before going back down to Birmingham. Lucas took off of work because he didn’t trust me alone with him in the house, but Annie was too worried about her friend at the time to even care what he was saying.

“I’m so sorry,” Lottie said with sincerity, “I never liked her to be honest.”

He laughed, “I know. You weren’t exactly subtle about it.”

She shrugged, “How’s the golf world? I’m sure you’re getting lots of calls for sponsorship's.”

His face lit up, “Actually, yea. Professionally I couldn’t be doing any better. I played with Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy just the other week for some charity event. I was on fire that day and definitely gained some attention from the PGA.”

“Babes, I have no idea who any of those people are or what the fuck a PGA is, but sounds exciting!”

They all busted out laughing, “It’s alright Lozza, they’re some of the best golfers in the world right now. But enough about me, how have you been?”

Annie grabbed a new bottle out of the fridge and opened it, pouring Lottie a glass and topping off everyone else.

“Thanks hun,” she said taking the glass. “Well I moved in officially with Gary straight after the finale. I know it was stupid, but I didn’t want to be without him. Plus, I was planning to move to London straight after the show… and Chatham isn’t _that_ far from the city center. It’s nice being by the sea and all.” She stopped and looked up at Annie, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t be talking about this right now.”

She waved her hand dismissively, “Stop it, I love hearing about you and Gaz. You know how happy I am for you two. Please, keep going. I haven’t seen you since our double date in London 3 weeks ago. Fill us in!” Annie replied smiling.

“Okay…” She took a deep breath, “Basically, things have been going great. We got our own place by his Nan and we’ve really been enjoying life away from the cameras. I got a bunch of promotional deals with big make-up brands and I started my own YouTube channel.”

Priya perked up, “OMG I know! Your channel is doing SO WELL! I can’t believe you did a collab with NikkieTutorials.”

“When she reached out, I was shocked too! She’s apparently a big fan of the show and wanted to help me get started with my channel.”

Rahim nodded, “That’s incredible. I’m so happy for you.”

They all sat in the kitchen chatting for what seemed like hours when a loud knock roared from the front door.

Annie’s stomach was in knots. She was having such a good time with her friends, she didn’t want to face Lucas. Everyone was staring at her as she downed the rest of her wine and stood up.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Rahim stood up.

_I know he would never lay a hand on me, but I don’t know how he’s going to react._

“I probably should do this alone.” 

She made her way to the entrance... _Deep_ _breath's...._ She thought as she turned the knob and opened the door.

He looked like a wreck. His normally perfectly gelled hair was messily covering his heavy, red eyes. She saw a bright, purple mark on his collarbone, barely peeking through behind his wrinkly white button down. She's never seen him like this. He looked so... broken.

"Annie..." He whimpered reaching out to her.


	2. We're Just Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think so far! This is a really fun story to write ... It's definitely not over though ;)

Annie stared at Lucas’s outstretched arm in disgust.

"Don’t touch me.” She gritted through her teeth.

“Please, let me come in and explain. It’s not what it looks like…”

_He looks pathetic right now._

She could feel her heartbeat in her stomach as anger began to rise, “NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE?” she yelled, “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?.”

One of her neighbor’s porch lights turned on so Annie ushered him inside quickly before drawing any more attention to themselves.

“Wait here.” She hissed at him and he nodded.

She walked back in the kitchen where Rahim, Priya, and Lottie were all waiting for her.

Lottie spoke first, “Hey babes, how are you.”

“I don’t know honestly. I think I need to talk to him… privately.”

“Of course hun, I was going to show them my flat anyways. Text me when you’re done here and we’ll come back for you, okay?” Priya said giving the girl a hug.

“Thanks, guys.” She said stifling a tear, “I didn’t know it would be this hard.”

Soon they were all surrounding her in a big group hug.

“We always got you Annie. Call us if you need anything.” Rahim comforted her.

Swiping at a tear from under her eye, “Thanks guys, I’ll text you when I’m done.”

The four of them made their way to the front door ,where Lucas was still standing, to leave.

Rahim eyed him up and down and shook his head. Lottie scowled, “You’re a fucking prick.” Before Lucas could say anything, they left leaving the two of them alone.

Annie could feel her heart beating in her stomach again. Fighting down the urge to strangle him or hit him, she led him to the living room where they both sat on opposite ends of the couch. He buried his hands in his face and let out a sniffle.

_Is he crying?_

“Annie.” He said scooting closer.

“Don’t come near me.”

“Please, baby, let me explain.” This time he reached for her hand.

She stood up and towered over him, “Explain what? There’s proof this time Lucas.”

_He was not getting out of this one. Nope._

“She was all over me all night! She was buying me drinks and dancing on me when Noah would disappear to the bathroom or to get some air. She pulled me out of the back door and led me to that alley and started just kissing me! It wasn’t my fault, please Annie...”

_Yea because that makes it alllll better._

“How many other girls were there.” She hissed.

“What? None, I swear it.”

“LIAR,” She screamed throwing a pillow at him. 

Tears started streaming down his face, “I promise I’ll never do it again. Please. It was a mistake."

“You’re right. You’ll never get the chance.” She said dead into his eyes, making sure he got the message loud and clear, “We are over.”

“Please,” he said between sobs, arms reaching out for her, “I can’t lose you.”

_I feel like I’m talking to a stranger_

“You should have thought about that before sticking it in Hope last night. I know you don’t have any respect for me or yourself, but don’t you have any respect for Noah? He was in the fucking club Lucas.”

“Annie…”

_All those months I wasted on you..._

“Get out. Get your stuff and get the fuck out. Don’t come here again.”

“Please, don’t…” He was on his knees, begging. He wrapped his arms around her legs and began kissing the fabric covering her thighs. “I can’t live without you.”

She kicked him away, careful not to hurt him. “I should have done this a long time ago, Lucas. You need to get help. You know your jealousy and anxiety is out of control, but you refuse to go to therapy. I tried to be there for you, I tried to understand. I was patient with you… but this? This is too much. When I found out you slept with Blake that night in Casa Amor and lied about it, I should have walked away. But you convinced me otherwise. YOU promised me this EXACT thing wouldn’t happen again. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

She walked into the bedroom and grabbed all of his things, throwing them into a bag. He didn’t have much stuff here because he hated Manchester. She walked back into the room and threw the bag down at his feet, “I’m not asking you again. Leave.”

“I’m not leaving, I can’t… we can fix this. I’m so sorry. Please, my love. You are everything…”

_Apparently 'everything' is not enough._

“Lucas, it’s not just the cheating… although that’s a big part of it. It’s your constant reminder that I’m not good enough for you.” She continued, mocking his voice, “’Dress right, do your hair, fix your makeup, make sure to smile, come to London 4 times a week or else I’m leaving, don’t you dare have any friends, I’m the only one who matters.’ Do you know how fucking exhausted I am?! I haven’t seen Rahim in 3 weeks for what? Because you don’t trust me?”

“I’ll be better… I’ll go to therapy… I’ll do anything… Please.”

“It’s too late for that. I gave you chances. I did everything for us and this is how you repay me? Get. Out. Lucas.”

He got up, still staring into her eyes in disbelief.

“Annie, I love you...” He said before grabbing his bag and heading out. He turned his head to look dead into her eyes with a playful smirk, “I guess you can now be with Bobby or Rahim.”

_And there he is. Old Lucas is back._

“Fuck you, Lucas.” She said slamming the door shut behind him, making sure to lock every deadbolt before collapsing onto the ground in a heap of tears.

_I can’t believe I got through that without crying or hitting him. I think I deserve an award._

She made her way to the kitchen and poured herself another glass of wine.

_My award._

She decided not to text Priya right away. She needed some time to herself to relax… She knew tomorrow she would have to do interviews or release a statement regarding the photos and video, but right now she just wanted to listen to some music and sip on her wine.

She decided on this small musician that she had been working with that was mad skilled on the violin. She closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the sound of the bow against the strings and smiled at the memory she had when she first found this girl.

She was walking around the park and there was a large crowd around the girl while she was playing some famous pop tune. She had never heard anything like it… Annie gave her a card and a few weeks later she was in the studio performing for Tom Walker, who put her on his newest single.

Knowing it was a stupid idea, Annie decided to check twitter to see what the world thought of the news.

**@chefjake1990**

“Can we all just agree Annie was way too good for him?”

**@User23565646**

“FUCK YOU @LucasKohOfficial.”

**@LoveIslandSuperFan236**

“Annie, sweetie, dump his sorry ass so you and Noah can be together finally <3”

**@MarisolOfficial**

“Interesting… I wonder if there’s more to the story.”

_Marisol, can you just shut the fuck up for once? Fuck._

**@BobbyandAnnieForever**

“@BobbyKenzOfficial IT’S YOUR TIME BABY.”

**@LucasKohFanClub**

“Lucas can do way better than Annie, now he’s finally free to be happy.”

_I think that’s enough twitter for one night._

Locking her phone back, she tried to focus on the music echoing through the room. A slow, tender piece was playing when she heard a knock at the door.

_I swear… If he’s back I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself_

*Knock, knock, knock *

“Go away.” She shouted through the door.

“…But I brought cupcakes.”

_Bobby_

Annie swung the door open to reveal Bobby… but he looked different. He looked... _really_ _good._

She flung her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug, “BOBBY!! What are you doing here? Come in.” she said beckoning him inside. “You look great, Bobs.”

“Thanks Annie, I’ve missed you.” He said putting the box of cupcakes on the counter and placing a kiss on her cheek. “How are you.”

She bit her lip nervously, “I’ve been better. Lucas just came over.”

“Oh?” He asked narrowing his eyes at her.

“I finally broke it off. For good.” She said grabbing him a glass and pouring him some wine.

He grabbed the glass and held it up in the air, “Thank fuck, cheers to that Lass.”

Clinking glasses with his, she giggled and replied, “I should have done it a long time ago. Come sit.” She motioned to the couches across the room. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

She talked to Bobby all the time on the phone, but she’s only seen him twice since the finale. His dreads were longer, eyes sparkled bigger than they ever did in the villa, and his body… let’s just say he has to have been hitting the gym. During the villa he wasn’t small per se… but now…

“That we do. Do you want to talk about it? I’m a great listener if you want to just ramble.”

She smiled at him. During the villa they would go up to the roof terrace and he would just listen to her go on and on about whatever was bothering her that day. Lucas was always so dismissive, but Bobby? She could have talked for hours and he would have never interrupted her. He was such a good friend.

“Yes, please. But first I want to hear about you. I need a little more liquid courage before I dive into all the feels so early in the night.”

He let out a small laugh and began, “Well, the bakery is doing really well. It’s a lot of people who are big fans of the show,” he rolled his eyes, “but the people who actually come for my pastry’s leave nothing but good reviews. My YouTube channel is doing pretty well too. I never knew you could make money from that!”

“Baking with Bobby is amazing I watch every episode! I even made my uncle those cookies the other day... and they were edible!”

“Oh wow, hats off to the chef," he said tipping his imaginary hat with a cheeky wink. "but thanks, lass. Other than that, not much. I miss all of you. You are all so far down south and I’m stuck in Glasgow. Part of me wants to come down so I can be with you… you all I mean.”

She snuggled against his arm, “You should. We miss you too.”

He wrapped his arm around her allowing her to snuggle closer, “So, the posh prick is finally out of here, yea?”

She giggled, sitting up again, “Yea.” Her smile faded, “It’s… I don’t know. I feel like a weights been lifted off my shoulders. But at the same time I feel… so sad.” She said letting out a tear.

He reached out for her hand, “Hey… it’s okay to feel sad. You thought he was your forever. He honestly had all of us fooled. He did everything right in front of the cameras, but when they were taken away he became a whole new person. I wish I was there for you more.” He gave her hand a squeeze, “but I’m here now. You can talk to me.”

She smiled at him through the blanket of tears her eyes were forming, “Thanks Bobby, that really means so much.” She grabbed their glasses, “Refill? And a cupcake, of course.”

“Mmm now you’re talking.”

She got up and refilled their glasses and placed two cupcakes on a plate. She grabbed her phone and sent a text to Priya.

_Hey, Bobby just stopped by. Do you mind letting Lottie and Rahim stay at yours? Come over in the morning for some pancakes and tea/coffee. Xx_

Priya: _Of course love, see you in the morning. Xx_

She walked back over to the couch where Bobby was laid out on his phone, “Making yourself comfortable, yea?”

“Just getting myself ready for one of yer chats. We might be here a while.”

She threw a pillow at him, “You offered.” 

He sat up and grabbed his glass. “Yeah, what’s the refund policy?” He said laughing, “I’m just messin with ya, tell me everything.”

She took one big sip, feeling a little tipsy from all the wine, “Alright… well basically this all stemmed from me not wanting to move in with him right away. He asked me at the finale, but I just wasn’t ready… I thought about moving to London at least so we could be closer… but like I said...I just wasn’t ready. It was fine for the first month. I was down there a lot doing interviews and more interviews, but when all the craziness slowed down… I stopped going down as much. I got busy with my life here and part of me hoped he would want to move here… I mean this is my home. But that didn’t happen, in fact he hated it here. This is when all of the rumors began about him cheating and the pictures would come forth of him dancing with other girls. Of course I ignored it… until it just got too much. When I came to your bakery opening, he was so angry. Accused me of cheating on him with you and Rahim. I think at one point he thought I was cheating on him with Priya. He always spun things to make our fights seem like it was my fault. I was so blind in our relationship.” She said with tears filling her eyes as she took another big sip of her wine. “I wasted so much time in the wrong relationship.”

Bobby studied her intently before responding, “Lucas was a prick. Listen to me,” He said staring deep into her eyes, “If you can love the wrong person that much, imagine how incredible it will feel when you love the right person.” He grabbed her hand in his, “I promise, you will find your person. This Lucas thing will feel like a blimp in the past when you find the right person. I swear it by the old gods and the new.”

A huge grin formed on her face, “You know nothing, Bobby McKenzie.”

They chatted for an hour or so more, finishing 2 more bottles of wine before Annie couldn’t contain the yawns anymore.

“Let’s get you to bed, yea?” he asked her.

She nodded and got up, losing her balance as her heavy lidded eyes could barely focus on anything. “Bobby?”

He grabbed her arm and helped her balance with a laugh, “Come on, drunkey.”

They made their way into her bedroom where Bobby helped her into the bed, “Bobby, will you do me a favor?”

“Sure, lass.”

“Can you get me some water.”

He laughed and nodded before making his way out of the room. While he was gone, she took off her clothes and threw on her big, oversized tshirt she loved sleeping in, and climbed under the covers.

She didn’t know if it was the alcohol taking over or the sudden realization she was alone, but a flood of tears began to dwell from deep within her chest. Bobby barely made it in the door when he realized what was happening and crawled in bed with her, wrapped his arms around her, and soothed her until she calmed down.

“Please, stay…” She barely got out between sobs.

“Of course.”

**Bobby POV**

He stroked her hair until her breath became consistent again, and he placed a quick kiss on her forehead thinking she was asleep.

“Bobby?”

_Fuck._

“Sorry, I thought you were asleep.” _Really? I couldn’t say anything else?_

“Can I tell you something?”

“Always…”

“Okay, don’t laugh. I know it’s stupid…” She took a deep breath, “I sometimes wonder how different things would have turned out if I dumped Lucas and tried things with you instead.” She placed her head against his chest, wrapped her arm around his waist, and cuddled closer to him, “I wish you told me you fancied me when we were in the villa. I hated finding out when I got home.”

_Breathe Bobby… Can she feel my heartbeat? She doesn’t know what she’s saying… She’s had too much wine._

“Annie…”

“I know. I told you, it was stupid. We’re just friends.” She looked up at him, “But I should have told you, too. So I can’t really blame you, can I?”

Bobby hadn’t watched the show back, yet. _What does she mean, too?_

_Oh god, the way she’s looking at me right now._

_I would have given anything to go back to the third day. She was too good for Rocco… but I never thought she would go for me. I don’t know why I coupled up with Lottie. One conversation could have changed everything… but of course, I chickened out._

She began to move closer to his lips. _I’ve wanted this for so long… but not like this._

“Annie,” he said grabbing her face softly, “I don’t want you to do anything you would regret in the morning.”

Looks of disappointment and confusion flooded her eyes when they found his. _Did I just mess everything up? Please, let her remember this in the morning._

“I’m tired of living with regrets Bobby.” She said before crashing her lips on his, sending a shock through his body that he’s never felt before. Her lips parted inviting him to deepen the kiss, and he did letting a sigh escape from his lips.

She pulled back and just looked at him, like she was seeing him for the first time.

_Does she regret this already? Did she feel that too?_

He reached up to move a stray piece of hair behind her ear as a tear escaped her eye. Using his thumb, he brushed the tear away, letting his hand rest on her cheek.

“There’s a lot of things I regret, but that? That was not one of them.” She said placing a sweet kiss against his lips and resting her head back against his chest. “Goodnight, Bobs.”

“Goodnight, Lass.” He said not quite believing this was real.

_What. Just. Happened._

He laid in her bed _…_ And listened to her breathing begin to steady again as she let out a soft snore.

_I really need to watch the show… soon._

_Oh my god… I’m in her bed. What the fuck happened._

Carefully, he pulled out his phone from his pockets and checked the time.

_11:16? No wonder I’m not tired._

He scrolled through twitter again, reading all the comments about what was happening. About 99% of the tweets were supportive of Noah/Annie. He smiled at all of the tweets begging Bobby and Annie to get together now that she was single.

_Would she want to be with me? Was tonight just a drunk, rebound ‘I’m alone’ kiss?_

He sighed at his thoughts. Without thinking, he opened the ITV app and grabbed the headphones on the nightstand, careful not to disturb Annie, and began watching episode one.

He cringed at his line when he met her.

_I was so fucking nervous. No wonder she chose Rahim over me._

He smiled when she was chosen to text the fittest islander and chose Lottie. _Those two are complete polar opposites, but damn Annie brought out Lottie’s good side. To be fair, Lottie brought out Annie’s dark side too…_

The episode continued and he couldn’t believe it… _in the beach hut Annie confessed to fancying me?_

“If I had to choose… I think the boy I fancy most is Bobby and Rahim. I mean I’m obviously coupled up with Rahim… but Bobby? He excites me. I’m going to try and talk to him tomorrow.”

The screen went black and he quickly clicked to the next episode. Annie stirred in her sleep and moved away from Bobby, leaving a sad feeling in the pit of his belly.

The second episode was kind of boring until the end. All of her beach hut confessionals were about the new girl or how she felt about Priya chosing Rahim, leaving Annie single… _I remember being so worried. I didn’t want her to go. Not yet._

He felt his eyes begin to get tired, but decided to watch just one more episode before falling asleep. He thought about the third day a lot. He could have chosen her.

The episode was filled with a lot of fluff, mainly focused on Annie as everyone tried to figure out where her head was at.

“I’m not going to lie, Priya and Rahim are really cute.” Annie began from the beach hut. “I wasn’t too hung up on him anyways… I think it’s kind of obvious my head is elsewhere.” The camera panned to Bobby and her on the daybeds chatting.

_Of course. I’m an idiot._

“Do you know who you’re picking?” She asked him.

“That’s for me to know, and you to find out.” _What. The. Fuck. Mate. Literally anything else, you could have said ANYTHING ELSE._ “I don’t know though, I’m still undecided. I’m confident you’ll be OK though.” _No thanks to you, you fucking idiot._ “Slightly less confident that I’ll have made up my mind by tonight.”

_Why didn’t I just tell her what I was thinking? I had known her 3 days… it’s not like she would have hated me if I just said I thought she was attractive and I wanted to get to know her. HOW HARD WAS IT TO SAY THAT?_

She smiled at him, “I’m confident you will figure it out.”

The camera cut to her in the beach hut, “Well, I guess we’re just friends. Part of me wanted to tell him to pick me… but what if he likes someone else in here? I’m not really having the best luck in here, am I?”

The episode continued with the recoupling and he wanted to kick himself when Rocco chose her.

_She was practically begging me to say something, anything, to indicate I might pick her. Fuck._

He turned off his screen, _that’s enough for one night,_ he thought before he rolled over, pressed his chest against Annie’s back, and pulled her in for a cuddle.

_If this is my one and only night with her, I want her in my arms._

Bobby fell asleep relaxing in her lavender scent and quiet snores not wanting tomorrow to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you spot the Game of Thrones reference! :-)


	3. Waiting For A Moment Like This

Annie woke up in the comfort of Bobby’s arms as she began to recall the events that took place last night.

_Oh no. oh no. Fuck… I kissed Bobby._

She slid out of his arms and turned to face him.

_Did I just ruin everything?_

She crawled out of bed and walked to the bathroom to turn on the shower.

_Ugh… Wine hangovers are the fucking worst._

After standing in the shower for hours it felt like and praying the water would wash away her hangover, she got out and dried herself off before wrapping up in her favorite fluffy robe and slippers.

Annie walked back into her bedroom to get dressed, but found the room completely empty and her bed perfectly made.

_Did Bobby leave?_

A shot of panic went through her body as a million thoughts flooded her brain. _Did he already regret this? I need to call him. I’ll tell him I was drunk and it didn’t mean anything…_

She ran into the kitchen to find Bobby digging through the pantry, looking for something.

“Bobby… I thought you left.” _Did I sound too desperate?_

“Why would I do that, lass?” He shot her a world-class grin before turning back to the pantry, “I heard you were in the shower so I made you some coffee. I was going to make some pastries but I’m having a hard time locating everything…” He trailed off before turning to her again.

_Those eyes…_

She bit her lip nervously. _Bobby’s never had this effect on me before. What is getting into me…_

“I invited Priya, Rahim, and Lottie over for Pancakes and Tea or Coffee…” She blurted out.

A little hint of disappointment showed on his face, “I was kind of hoping we could chat, just the two of us…”

She began fiddling with the hair tie around her wrist, “Yea. That’s probably a good idea…” She said grabbing her coffee and motioning him to the couch. “Look about last night…”

He cut her off, “I don’t know what you were about to say but I need to say this first.” He took a deep breath.

_This is where he says it. ‘I just see you as a friend.’ I’ve heard it a million times before._

He continued, “Last night I watched the show for the first time. Well, just the first 3 days… I don’t think I could take any more than that. I was such a fuck up for not saying anything to you sooner. Here’s what I should have said when you asked me about the recoupling,” he cleared his throat. “’Annie, I want to choose you tonight. I think you’re an incredible woman and I would be honored to pick you tonight.’ Last night was one of the greatest nights of my life, but if you don’t feel the same and just want to be friends… that’s fine too. I’m just tired of living with regrets, too.”

_Oh my God._

Tears began to well up again, “Bobby…” She whimpered pulling him in for a hug. She clung on to him so tight, she swore he was going to burst at any moment. She pulled away and began to speak through the tears, “When you didn’t chose me at the second recoupling, I thought you for sure saw me as a friend. I convinced myself the entire time we were in the villa that we were better off as friends, especially when Lucas was so straight-forward with his feelings. I did care for Lucas so I chose the easy way out, knowing I could have had more with you. Things got so serious so fast with him and I guess I pushed my feelings for you out of my head…” She paused to look at him, tears were starting to form in his eyes as well. “I wish I could go back to that day and had the guts to tell you to pick me...”

He reached out and gently grabbed the side of her face, pulling her lips closer to his. With his other hand on her waist, he pulled her body close to his and closed the gap between their lips, sending shockwaves through both their bodies again.

The kiss deepened, she wanted more. For too long she had been without this… She climbed in his lap, careful not to break the kiss, and began riding her hips against his. She was suddenly aware that she was completely naked underneath the robe.

He began to hungrily kiss her neck and collarbone, stopping every once in a while to check to see if she was okay.

“Oh, Bobby,” she moaned as he found her sweet spot on her neck.

She placed two hands on his chest and lightly pushed him back into the couch before slowly pulling off the shirt he had on.

_Abs… dear Lord help me._

She began to trace her finger over his chest and stomach, making sure to give attention to each freckle on his light-skinned chest.

“I love your freckles.”

Before he had a chance to answer, she began to undo the tie around her waist. Slowly, she let the robe fall from her shoulders onto the ground below them.

“You are… I don’t think words can do it justice, Lass.” He said grabbing her hips, “Fucking hell.”

Just as they were about to take things further, they heard knocks coming from the front door.

“For fucks sake.” Bobby muttered under his breath.

Annie crawled off of him and slid back into her robe. “Wow… that was…” She said tying the knot around her waist.

“Yeah…” He stood up and grabbed her by the wait and pulled her closer to him, “You’re so beautiful.” He said placing a sweet kiss against her lips.

The knocking continued, “COMING.” She shouted towards the door.

He kissed her one last time before letting her go to answer the door.

_I can’t believe that almost happened…_

~~~

Breakfast went by quickly and smoothly. Annie didn’t think anyone suspected anything from the two of them. They sat beside each other at the round table and occasionally her leg would brush up against his sending chills down her spine.

“So, have you talked to Eva today?” _Ugh, my publicist._

“No… I guess I should call her soon.” She said with a groan.

“Well why don’t we get out of your hair so you can do that,” Priya said while standing up clearing her plate.

“Thanks, guys. I can’t believe this is really happening.” She said with a frustrated groan.

Bobby placed his hand on her thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze, “Call me if you need me, seriously.”

She smiled up at him. “Thanks.”

Soon they all left and she was on the phone with Eva.

“Alright, first things first. You need to release a statement on social media. I typed something for you and you can edit it however you like… just make sure you run it by me first. Second, I have you scheduled for the talk show _This Morning_ tomorrow. We’ll go over what they’re going to ask and your answers before, but there’s no need to worry. Third, we need to get you out of the house and making public appearances. I will not allow the media to paint this picture of you staying at home knee deep in a tub of ice cream crying over this prick. Got it?”

“Jeez. That was a lot Ev… I really don’t want to go in front of camera’s right now.” She bit her lip nervously. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

Eva sighed through the phone, “Look… right now Lucas’s people are thinking of ways to turn this around to where you are the bad guy. He’s an attractive guy and a smooth talker… We’ve got to be careful here or else he could flip the script and paint you in a bad light… and trust me, the media is way more forgiving to male’s than they are females.”

_She’s right…_

“Eva… I need to tell you something. I trust you and I know you wouldn’t tell anyone this… promise me this won’t get out”

“Of course, hun. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t say anything.”

“Okay, so last night I may have done something bad…”

“Please don’t tell me you went out and hooked up with a stranger.”

“Well… no not exactly. I mean I didn’t actually do anything besides kiss him… but he’s not a stranger.”

“It’s Bobby, huh.”

“How did you… not important.” She sighed putting her head in her hands, “We both admitted these feelings that we’ve been holding in and… I don’t know. It’s not like with Lucas.”

Eva was silent for a few moments before speaking up, “I’m as big as a Bobby fan as the rest of them. Trust me, there’s nothing more I would love than for you two to be together. But as your publicist, this can’t happen. Not right now at least. If you two were spotted together romantically, the media would have a field day with this. Lucas’s people would take this and run with it saying you were cheating the whole time and everything he’s ever done to you would be excused.”

Annie began to feel her chest tighten as Eva spoke. She never thought of it like that… She couldn’t do this to Bobby…

“People wouldn’t just hate me… they would come after Bobby.”

“Correct. People would blame him for breaking up the winning couple. Despite what is out there in the media, Lucas’s charm and good looks would get him out of this mess if something were to seriously happen between you two.”

Annie bit her lip, “I can’t do that to him…”

“Oh hun, I’m so sorry. Look, I know it isn’t ideal… but let this cool off for a few months. It’s only early November… by the time the new year begins you two can try again. Besides, you need this time to heal. Jumping into this with Bobby while your wounds from Lucas are still fresh probably isn’t the best idea.”

“What time do I need to be there in the morning?”

“I’ll have a car come pick you up at 6 am. They’ll do your hair and make-up there. I booked you a room in London for the night, you can check in any time after 3. It’s booked under the name ‘Grace Temple.’ I’ll send you the details now.”

“Got it, thanks Ava.”

“Call if you need anything, bye babes.”

She sunk into the couch and pulled up her messages.

 **Annie** : Fancy coming to London with me? I have an interview tomorrow.

 **Bobby** : Anything for you, Lass.

~~~

Annie was standing back at the kitchen, saying her goodbyes to Lottie and Rahim.

After the two of them left, it was just Bobby and Priya left standing in the kitchen.

“I wish I could come to London with you hun, but I have something really important in the morning that I can’t get out of…” Priya said apologetically.

“Hey, it’s okay. Chelsea’s down there and so is Noah. I’ll be fine babes.” Annie said giving her a big hug.

“Bobby, do you need a place to stay tonight?”

“Actually, I need to head back up to Glasgow. I have some things I need to take care of with the bakery.”

“Okay, well it was good seeing you Bobs.” Priya said while hugging him goodbye, “Don’t be a stranger.”

“I won’t”

“Alright, I will see you later. Call me if you need me.” She said before walking out the door.

Annie turned to face Bobby, who was fidgeting with his hands nervously.

“Hey.”

_Hey? Why do you have to be so awkward Annie?_

“So… The hotel we’re going to be staying at is pretty nice… Eva sent me the link and all.”

“Yea? Sounds great…”

The sexual tension between them was almost palpable.

“I need to finish packing… I actually have some things you can borrow if you want? I promise they’re my brothers, not Lucas’s.” She said with a nervous laugh.

“Sounds great, thanks.” He said giving her that Hollywood smile.

They made their way into her bedroom where her empty bag laid on the bed.

“Crap. I have to pick something to wear for tomorrow.” She said while lying on the bed defeated.

“I’ll help,” Bobby perked up.

“Really?”

“Yea, of course.” He said rummaging through her closet. “What about this?”

He held up a red jumpsuit with a deep v cut, “Way too much for daytime television.” She replied with a grimace.

“hmm… true.” He placed the outfit back into the closet. “What about this?”

He held up an emerald green blazer with a matching skirt. “Actually… that would be perfect! Thanks, Bobs.”

She grabbed a pair of matching heels and some jewelry before packing a few more things. They were only going to be there for one night but she always liked to be prepared.

“I guess I should get dressed…” She said and he nodded walking out of the room.

She decided to go casual today, rocking one of her grandfather’s oversized vintage tshirts over a tight turtleneck paired with some ripped jeans. She threw on a pair of trainers, a beanie, and her glasses before grabbing her bag and coat and walked out to the kitchen.

“Alright, you ready? I’m going to drive.” She said.

“You sure? We can just take the train… it’s a little bit of a drive.”

“I know, but it’s probably the safest option.” She said biting her lip. _I’ve got to stop doing that so much_.

Bobby nodded, grabbing her bag from her hands. “Lead the way.”

~~~

The drive was not horrible. She never minded driving long distances, plus having Bobby with her made it kind of fun. They jammed out to Cardi and all the famous pop songs, making sure to sprinkle some oldies in there to mix it up. She let Bobby deal with the valet while she checked in under her code name and keeping a low head. She didn’t want to get spotted, especially after her talk with Eva earlier.

She texted Bobby the room number and made her way upstairs to the penthouse suite. _Damn, Eva really went all out for this interview._

She pulled out her phone and began to text Eva.

 **Annie** : The room is incredible! I’ve never seen anything like this.

 **Eva** : It was a gift from ITV. They reserved it for two nights, have fun and relax. Xx

Annie bit her lip in anticipation _two nights? That’s a lot of …_

She looked out the window to see the London night skyline unfold in front of her. _Wow…._

The room was very… sexy. The king sized bed had rose petals strewn across it and the lighting was turned down low. There were candles and a bottle of champagne with some chocolate covered strawberries waiting for her on the table with a little note:

> _Welcome, Annie. We hope you enjoy your stay with us. Please do not hesitate to call if you need anything. Enjoy the complimentary champagne and strawberries as you unwind._

Her phone buzzed with a message from Bobby saying he was outside. She opened the door to let him in and his mouth dropped the same way hers did when he saw the room.

“This place is stunning! I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in something this posh.” He began, “Champagne and all!”

“I know.” She giggled, “I was just about to check out the bathroom.”

“The bathroom is the best bit!”

_He’s acting like a little kid on Christmas. This is the cutest she’d ever seen him._

The bathroom was equally, if not more, as stunning as the rest of the room. There was a huge Jacuzzi style tub and candles placed all throughout the counters.

“Wow, now that’s what I’m talking about.” He said sitting in the empty tub. “I feel relaxed already.”

She giggled at him again, “Come on goofball. Let’s order room service, I’m starving.”

They decided to just order some burgers and fries, despite all the fancy dishes on the menu.

“This is the best burger I’ve ever had.” She said letting out a moan.

“Tell me about it. Chef Bobby approves.”

They ate their burgers and sipped at the champagne enjoying each other’s company before Annie got up and flopped down on the bed.

“Oh my gosh, Bobby… this bed is so comfortable.”

He came and flopped down next to her. “Fucking ell, you’re right. I could fall asleep right here, just like this.”

She got up and grabbed the bucket of champagne and her glass, “I think I might take a bath.” She said giving him a look that screamed ‘come with me.’

“That sounds lush…” He said before finding her eyes. “Can I… may i…”

“Please.” She said before disappearing into the bathroom. She changed into one of the hotel’s robes and began running the water when Bobby walked in wearing one of the robes as well.

He placed his glass down by the tub and turned to face her, “You look radiant tonight.” He said reaching up to cup her face with one hand and placed the other on the small of her back to pull her closer. She sighed into his lips as he kissed her, this time with love and patience, letting their lips melt together.

She pulled away and turned off the water. She undid her robe and placed it on the hook next to the tub before turning back to face Bobby. “Is this okay? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable…”

“You don’t make me uncomfortable, lass.” He said stripping away his robe. “You just leave me at a loss of words.”

_Wow… Now I’m the one speechless._

He climbed into the tub and motioned for her to come in. She settled in between his legs and laid back against his chest, letting his arms settle around her waist.

“This is perfect, thanks for inviting me.” He said kissing her temple.

She turned on some music from her phone and they both began sipping their champagne again, getting completely lost in the moment.

After a few minutes, she began to get uncomfortable, “Babe, I think I’m beginning to prune.”

“Same, let’s get out and find a movie to watch” He said placing a kiss on her cheek. They got out and dried off, opting to put on the robes versus their pajamas.

They crawled into bed and Bobby opened his arms, inviting her to cuddle up close.

“Bobby… I need to talk to you.”

He sat up and looked at her, “Okay…”

“I talked to my publicist today… I told her about you, I mean us.” She took a deep breath, “I don’t know if I’m ready to jump into something new… I mean I gave Lucas part of my heart and it’s going to take a while to heal.” Tears began to form again, “I really do like you Bobby, but I don’t think it would be right of us to start something so soon after the break-up.”

“Hey, come here.” He said pulling her in for a hug, “It’s okay. I understand. Take your time. I’m here… I’m not going anywhere.” He pushed her back so he could look into her eyes, “To be honest, I would be a little concerned if you jumped into this without second thought.”

Tears began streaming down her face, “I’ve never… No one’s ever treated me with this much… respect… I don’t know what’s happening to me, I’ve never cried so much in my life.” She said with a chuckle.

“Yea, you’re a mess, lass.”

She playfully hit his arm, “I could be worse.”

He smiled at her, “I think you’re perfect.”

She reached up to touch his face, letting her fingers connect the dots along his freckles. “I really do love these,” she placing kisses along his cheek and on the tip of his nose, before moving her lips towards his. The fireworks went off in her brain again as their kiss deepened and this time… no one would disturb them.

She rolled on top of him and began moving her hips against his, like earlier that day.

“Annie, we don’t have to…”

She stopped and slowly slipped out of her robe, “I know.”

“Are you sure?” He barely choked out.

“Bobby, please.”

That’s all it took for him to grab her and pin her down to the bed, “I’ve wanted this for so long.” He breathed into her neck between kisses. He moved one hand to her breasts and began massaging them, pinching and flicking at her nipple, which made Annie begin to arch towards him.

“Fuck, Bobby.” She moaned.

“I love it when you say my name.” He said, trailing his kisses lower replacing his hand with his mouth and tongue.

“I need you, oh.” She was ready, but he wasn’t done with her yet.

“We’ve got all night, baby. I don’t know about you, but I plan on enjoying this.” He said smirking up at her.

_Oh my god, where has this Bobby been?_

He leaned up to kiss her again, but his hand began moving lower and lower… “So wet already,” he moaned into her mouth as his fingers began massaging her sensitive area in her warmth.

“Oh God, Bobby.” _Fuck…_

He placed one last kiss on her lips before moving down to replace his tongue where his fingers just were.

“Fuck… yes…” She grabbed the sheets around her as he slipped two of his fingers inside her. She felt the build up inside of her as she was close.

_No… already? Don’t come so quickly…_

Her brain didn’t relay the message to the rest of her body as her hips began thrashing and her panting and moaning got louder with each movement of his tongue.

“Bobby, I’m so…”

“Oh, baby come for me…” He breathed into her warmth.

She couldn’t hold on any longer as his tongue found her again. She flung her head back and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling something indescribable happen within her.

She’s came before… just last week Lucas had made her come undone… but she’s never came like this. It was Earth-shattering… mind-blowing…

She opened her eyes to find Bobby staring at her with a look she had never seen before.

“That was the most beautiful, sexiest thing I have ever seen in my life.” He said placing a kiss on her collarbone before working his way onto her lips.

“Oh god… please tell me you brought protection.”

He leaned over and opened the drawer to the nightstand to reveal a box of condoms, “I may have bought some from the hotel lobby’s store… you know, just in case.”

He grabbed one and ripped it open before sliding it on his length, “We can stop whenever you want, no questions asked.”

She smiled at him, “Shut up and kiss me.”

He leaned down and began kissing her again, positioning himself so he can easily slide within her. He propped himself up on his elbows and let himself hover above her before slipping just the head in.

“I hope I never forget this moment,” he said before sliding fully inside her, letting moans and cries escape from both of their mouths as he began thrusting inside of her.

“Oh Bobby,” She moaned, unable to contain the praises that came out of her mouth.

“You’re so beautiful,” he grunted as his pace began to quicken.

She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down, kissing him like she would die without the taste of his lips on hers as he continued to thrust in and out of her. She wrapped his legs around his waist, allowing him to go deeper and harder inside of her as she continued to whine and moan at the intense pleasure building up inside of her.

Bobby shut his eyes feeling himself begin to release as Annie began shaking as her walls began convulsing around him. He opened them to find her head completely thrown back and her mouth wide open as screams of pleasure escaped her mouth, causing him to cum hard inside of her.

“Fucking hell, Annie.” He said releasing everything.

Their breathing began to settle as he gave her sweet and slow kisses.

“That was… fuck.” She barely breathed out.

“I know… we should have been doing that a long time ago.” He said flopping down beside her.

“December 28.”

He gave her a confused look, “What?”

“That’s the day I will be ready to move on, publicly.” She said giving him a cheeky wink before climbing out of bed to get a drink of water from the fridge.

He joked with her, “I don’t know… I think I have something going on that day.”

She turned and stuck her tongue out at her as he began to discard of the used condom and wrapper in the bathroom.

They both settled back into bed, relaxing in each other’s arms.

“I hate to do this, but I have to be up early in the morning.” She said letting out a yawn.

“I’m exhausted anyways, Lass.”

She placed a kiss against his chest underneath her, “I hope I don’t forget this moment either.”

“Goodnight Annie.” He whispered into her hair.

“Goodnight, Bobs.”


	4. Letting go

Noah stood in Hope’s kitchen slicing a tomato and some cheese.

“Babe, do you want any tomatoes on your sandwich?” He called out to Hope who was stretched out on the couch hungover from the night before.

She groaned, “I guess.”

He placed two slices of tomatoes on each of their slices of bread along with some ham, cheese, and lettuce.

“Do you want yours toasted?”

“Noah, I really don’t fucking care.”

 _Looks like I get bitchy Hope today._ Noah shook his head. _That was unfair. I shouldn’t have thought that._

He decided to toast hers and grabbed some crisps from the pantry before making his way over to her.

“Here you go, babe.” He said placing the plate down in front of her.

She pouted her lips out like he just placed a plate full of worms in front of her.

“Is it alright?”

“I guess so” She said rolling her eyes and reaching for the crisps.

He made his way into the kitchen sighing under his breath and grabbed his lunch.

“So, what are you watching?” He asked flopping down in the chair next to the couch.

She rolled her eyes again, “I don’t know, why don’t you look?”

He clinched his teeth and bit his tongue, “Looks interesting.” He took a bite of his sandwich, “So what do you have going on this week?”

“Do you mind fucking chewing with your mouth closed?” She snarled at him. “You know what? I’m not hungry. I’m going to go lay down.” She said throwing her plate onto the coffee table in front of them and stomping into the bedroom like a four-year-old.

_That went well._

He let out a frustrated sigh and found the remote to click off whatever gossip show Hope was watching.

_Peace and quiet._

After last night he needed some time alone to himself. Hope had dragged him along to some fancy nightclub… again. It’s not that he hated going out… he just didn’t like going out with her. Every time they go somewhere she ends up disappearing for half the night. She never let him invite Gary and Lottie or Chelsea, but somehow Lucas and/or Blake were there about 75% of the time. Lucas, of course, was always alone which disappointed Noah. If Annie were there the night would be way less boring. She always brought out his fun side.

Noah always texted Annie when he would spot Lucas on a night out, but she always dismissed it saying ‘he was just having fun, he would never actually do anything to hurt me.’

He reached to the side on the end table to pull out his copy of _The Sound and the Fury_ by William Faulkner. He spoke to Annie two weeks ago about looking at flat’s here in the city for her and she mentioned re-reading the book in her off time. He decided he would as well and they would meet up for coffee when they were finished to catch up and chat about the book like they used to do in the villa.

Noah was excited that Annie was thinking about moving down to London. He felt so lonely sometimes with Hope being so distant and Rahim traveling the world for Golf events. Chelsea was always traveling back and forth between Henrik’s place and hers that it was hard to coordinate schedules and he always felt like he was interrupting something between Gary and Lottie. When she asked him to check out a few apartments for her, he of course jumped on the opportunity.

He pulled out his phone to snap a picture of the book and send it to her when he stumbled across a link sent to him by his sister.

**The Ultimate Betrayal? Love Island Season 2 Winner Lucas Spotted with Runner-up Hope**

_Well yeah, we were all at the night club together. Lucas even rode home with us because he lives near Hope’s flat._

He skimmed through the article before landing on the pictures.

_Oh, I think I’m going to be sick._

He clicked through each photo and watched only 3 seconds of the video before standing up and throwing his book across the room, ironically knocking over and breaking a picture of him and Hope.

She came running out of her room, and when she noticed the broken frame she narrowed her eyes at him and folded her arms, “What the fuck, Noah? You’re paying for that.” 

“Fuck you, Hope.” He spewed. He’s never raised his voice at a woman but the anger within him couldn’t subside as he looked at her face, “Fuck all of this. Am I some kind of joke to you?”

She grabbed his phone out of his hands and her eyes went wide when she saw the photos.

“Oh, babe.” She returned to her bitchy, snarky stare, “If you really thought I was faithful to you, that’s your fault.” She handed him his phone back and turned to walk back into her room.

He was beginning to see red, “Are you joking right now? All this time you’ve been complaining about me seeing Chelsea so much, but you’ve been fucking my best friends guy behind both of our backs?”

“I didn’t realize anyone could see us. I thought it was dark and secluded,” She said visibly frustrated. “Look, we can address this tomorrow to the media. We’ll just say we were both drunk and it didn’t mean anything and you can just say you forgive me and it will all blow over.”

“Excuse me?” _Is she fucking with me right now?_

“You know just as well as I do the media would tear me apart for this.” She said walking towards him and lowering her voice. “Annie’s not going to break up with Lucas, not right away at least, because she doesn’t want to see him get hurt.” She reached for the waistband of his pajamas, “You don’t want to see me get hurt, do you baby?” She said letting her hands graze over his abs.

For so long he’s been aching for her touch him. It had been weeks since she’s gave any attention to his… little man, not to mention how long it had been since they had sex. He felt himself begin to get hard as her hand wandered deeper inside his pants and her lips found his neck.

He moaned as she began stroking him, “Hope…”

“That’s right, say my name baby.” She began stroking faster making him unbearably hard as she dropped to her knees and pulled his pants down completely exposing his raging hard length.

She let her tongue dance on his tip slightly before opening her mouth and taking all of him inside her.

He closed his eyes and felt powerless in that moment. _I need this… I deserve this… I…_

He let a moan and sigh slip from his lips before coming to his senses. He stepped backwards with gritted teeth and released himself from Hope’s lips making a pop sound. He was disgusted with himself for letting her touch him like that.

“No, Hope.” He said pulling his pants back up, “You don’t get to fuck your way back into my life.”

“Noah… please.” This was the most vulnerable and scared he had seen her since he met her. “My life…” She managed to choke up some tears, “My life would be over. Please do this for me. I’ll do whatever you want until this blows over.”

“If you hadn’t been so selfish and actually cared about my feelings… Maybe I would have considered helping you save face. But you’ve never cared about me.” He began pacing around the room, “The only reason you stuck with me is because you couldn’t have Lucas because he was so stuck on Annie.” He stopped and looked at her in disbelief, “I was just another pawn in your game, huh? Lucas didn’t want you so you decided to drag me along huh? I’m done being your fucking pawn.” 

The vulnerable look in her eyes was now glazed over into a dark, cynical glare as she laughed, “The only reason he chose Annie over me is because he had a better shot at winning with her. We were already the strongest couple so if he broke us up the public would have hated him.” She smirked at him, “Trust me, he would have gone for me if he could.”

Noah had nothing left to say. He had been blind for so long. He walked into her room and began packing all of his things in his suitcase. Once he was certain he got everything, or at least everything that meant something to him, he walked out of the room to find Hope sitting in the chair completely naked.

_Didn’t she get the memo?_

“Cover yourself up, fucking hell.” He said throwing a blanket over her.

“Just let me show you how willing I am to make this work.” She said standing up and walking towards him.

He stepped away from her and bent down to pick up his book he threw earlier. He turned around and groaned at the sight of her playing with her breasts while biting her lip.

He wasn’t going to deny it was absolutely sexy. The way her fingers played with her nipple and that look she was giving him…

He took a deep breath and swallowed hard before grabbing his suitcase again and walking right by her, “Call Lucas to help you finish.”

With that he walked out the door and called a taxi to bring him back to his little house outside of the city, finally feeling free for the first time in a long time.

## ~~~

Annie was sitting in the dressing room chatting to Eva while the hairstylist was messing with her curls.

“Do you think we need to go over anything else?” Eva asked.

Annie took a big swig of her coffee, “No. I think we’re good. Noah did great in his interview… I’m so happy he and Hope are done.” She said shaking her head, “They were not a good match.” 

“He certainly knew how to handle himself,” Eva replied. “They might bring him back in and do part of the interview together since you two were such good friends in the villa.”

Annie nodded her head, “Fine by me.”

One of the show runners came in, “5 minutes. You should probably head out there.”

Annie got up and gave one final check in the mirror before taking her place on the couches with the two hosts.

“1 MINUTE” someone screamed from behind the cameras.

“Nice to see you again, Annie.” Holly said reaching out to grab her hand, “I’m so sorry were meeting like this.”

“Thanks, Holly. I’m honored to be here. I wish it were under better circumstances as well.” Annie smiled at her.

The other co-host, Phillip, spoke up, “I promise we won’t ask too many hard questions, and if you need to stop just kick me under the chair and we’ll cut to commercial, okay?”

“Thanks, Phillip. That means a lot.”

“We’re on in 5…4…3…” The producer held up 2 fingers, then 1 indicating the show was starting.

“Welcome back to _This Morning_. Joining us now is Love Island Season 2 winner Annie Finley.”

Annie waved to the camera, “Hi everyone. Thank you for having me.”

“Welcome Annie, first off we just wanted to thank you for being here today.

"I love coming here! Everyone is so kind and welcoming."

"Can I just say we were all devastated and shocked when the images surfaced of Lucas and Hope. What was going through your mind when they first came out?”

The crowd started to boo and someone shouted, "You can do better than him."

Annie smiled sweetly at the audience before turning back to the two hosts, “I think it's safe to say we’ve all seen the pictures by now… When I first saw them, I think I was just in an initial state of shock and disbelief. Being under a microscope for the entirety of our relationship and all this pressure from being the winners has definitely caused a strain on it... but never did I think he would be unfaithful to me. After the initial state of shock and betrayal wore off, I think a sense of peace ran through me. Someone who even thinks about being unfaithful in a relationship certainly does not deserve to be in one." The crowd began cheering as she spoke, “And I don’t want to speak unkindly of him, because he is not a bad person, he just made several mistakes, unforgivable mistakes… But those pictures and videos really broke my heart.” She said with a quivering chin and lip as she finished, “Sorry, I didn’t think I would get this emotional so early.” She said with a lighthearted chuckle as Phillip handed her a tissue. “Thank you."

Phillip nodded, "So, from what I can gather, I think it's safe to say the relationship is over?"

"Yes, Lucas and I are no longer together. I wish him nothing but the best in the future."

“We’re sorry to hear that. We know this can’t be an easy subject to talk about. Is there still a chance between you two or do you think it’s over for good?”

“Right now, I think it’s for good. There were a lot of things we just couldn’t compromise on and work through, I think the cheating and lying was really just the final nail in the coffin unfortunately. I still do have a lot of love for him in my heart, but I don’t think I would ever be able to move past this.”

“That’s certainly understandable.” Holly continued, “Last we spoke to you there was talks about possibly moving to London, is that still in the cards?”

“Unfortunately, no. I think I’m going to stay in Manchester for a while. Maybe I will in the future, but for now I really would just like to be surrounded by my family and those closest to me.”

“There's no place like home, and Manchester’s lucky to have such a gem like you living there." The audience cheered again, "So tell us, Annie, what does the future hold for you now that you’re single? Looking for a new romance anytime soon?”

“I think I’m really going to take this time to connect with myself. These past three months have been such a whirlwind, and I’m so thankful for all the love and support! With the holiday’s approaching I think this is the best time for me to just take a time-out and recharge.”

“Absolutely,” Phillip exclaimed, “You deserve it.”

“Thanks, Phillip. You’ll probably find me on a beach soon with a drink in hand. I need the sun as soon as possible!” She said with a laugh.

“Don’t we all,” Holly laughed, “We’re going to take a short break, but when we come back Noah will be joining us again as he and Annie will chat about some of their experiences on Love Island!”

The crowd cheers and the producer yelled, “CUT.”

She heard a familiar voice call out from behind her, “That was great, Annie.”

“NOAH!” She squealed as she gave him a hug, “I’ve missed you!”

“Same here, we sure are meeting under great circumstances, huh?”

She let out a laugh, “Yea, tell me about it. How are you?”

“I’ve been better, but honestly? I’m so relieved.” He leaned down to whisper so no one else could hear, “You don’t even understand… She’s been driving me insane.”

“Well I could have told you that.” They both started laughing, “You should come up to Manchester sometime. I know Priya would love to see you.”

“I’m not so sure after the events that unfolded when you all returned from Casa Amor.” He shook his head.

Annie gave him a wink, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

Noah perked up and his eyes went wide, “Really?”

“I’m just saying, she doesn’t hate you. Reach out to her.”

He smiled, “I just might.”

The producer started his countdown indicating the show was starting back up.

“Welcome back, thank you for sticking around!” Holly began, “We have half of our Love Island season 2 winner and runner-up joining us together now! We all saw how close you two were in the villa, did the friendship continue post-villa? We’re dying to know!”

Noah let out a little laugh before answering, “Of course. We keep in touch and tried to meet up on several occasions… but…”

Annie interrupted, “Let’s just say our partners at the time didn’t want us seeing each other.” She looked at him, “Ironic isn’t it?”

He chuckled, “Yea, I unfortunately put too many things in my life on hold to try and make this relationship work… but trust me, book club is happening soon.” He said nudging Annie.

Holly interrupted, “Okay… I have to ask… what is book club?”

Annie smiled, “Basically every morning Noah and I would drink coffee and discuss our thoughts on some of our favorite books. It was actually quite interesting; I was sad to see none of our discussions made the episodes. I guess we would need to work out the details… but we really wanted to engage with our fellow book lovers and basically create a large book club for the public to join in on our conversations.”

Noah joined in, “Originally we thought going on Instagram live together once a month would suffice, but I enjoy interacting with people after I finish a book.”

“I’m the same way,” Annie agreed, “So we came up with the idea of maybe going on tour?”

Phillip interjected, “Like a concert?”

“Yeah, kind of... Like a concert setting for an interactive Q&A for fellow dorks like us.” Annie answered making the whole audience chuckle, “We were talking about doing one at the end of each month in London, Glasgow, and Dublin for now.”

Noah nodded his head in agreement, “For those who would be interested, we were thinking about sending a newsletter out each month with the chosen book along with a list of questions, like a normal book club.”

Holly perked up, “Okay, so they would read the book… then what?”

“Then whoever’s interested would come to our book club!”

“This sounds like a terrific idea! What a great way to get people interested in reading again. Let us know when this project gets started, we would love to help out!”

“Thanks, Holly. This is the first time we’ve spoke of this since we left the villa… but I guess its happening!” Annie could barely contain her smile.

“Absolutely,” Noah beamed, “we really want this to focus on reading and having a safe space for people to gather and talk, so we also wanted to add that all you would need to get into the event is the book. Of course we would have to work out the details later, but we’re hoping for all the events to be totally free.”

“Well we wish you two nothing but the best. This sounds like a wonderful idea, thank you for sharing with us.”

“Thanks for having us,” Annie smiled.

Noah joined her, “Yes, always a pleasure.”

“That’s all for today, but join us tomorrow for a surprise guest and musical performance! You don’t want to miss it.”

The producer from behind the camera cut, “And out, great job everybody.”

Holly turned to the two of them, “Seriously, if you need any help at all, let us know. This sounds like a great program for kids and adults.”

“Thanks, we will definitely keep that in mind.”

Noah and Annie made their way backstage where both of their publicists were waiting.

Eva spoke up first, “Well I wish I would have known more about this book club idea… but it’s already trending on Twitter.”

Noah’s publicist, Lori, nodded, “I was a little nervous when you two started talking about it… but people love the idea. We’ll have to get in touch about this sometime this week.”

Eva nodded, “Absolutely. We’ll make plans.”

Annie turned to Noah, “Well I must be getting back, I’m exhausted. Meet up soon?”

Noah pulled her in for a hug, “Planning on it.”

Eva and Annie walked back to the town car waiting outside for the two of them.

“It’s a shame you and Noah are just friends. You two looked incredible together.”

“Ew, no. He’s like my…”

Eva interrupted mimicking Annie’s voice, “’He’s like my brother’ I know I know. I’m just saying.”

Annie rolled her eyes at her and pulled out her phone.

\---

 **Bobby** : You killed it out there, Lass!

 **Bobby** : Also, you looked insanely hot on the screen.

\---

She smiled at his message before switching to Twitter.

There were a few tweets that were harsh saying Noah and Annie used the break-up to exploit their new business, but most people seemed to speak positively of the interviews. There were a few tweets suggesting Noah and Annie were together romantically, but a lot of comments about how sweet their friendship was, which made her smile.

Her phone began to buzz.

“Sorry, this is Chelsea.” Annie said apologizing to Eva.

“No worries.”

“Hey Chels!”

“ANNIE!!! You were like a rock star this morning. OMG, that book club idea? GENIUS! Are you going to be in London tonight? Please say yes… I need to see you! I miss you!”

“Miss you too, babes. Of course, we can do dinner… text me where to meet you and when!”

“Of course, sending the deets now. Alright I have to go but I can’t wait to squeeze you! Mwah.” She said before hanging up.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like Chelsea.” Annie said with a laugh.

“Me either,” Eva said shaking her head, “Alright, I’ll call you later to discuss some things. Be careful, Annie.”

“I will, thanks Eva.” She said before stepping out of the car into her hotel. She made her way up to the room and found Bobby still lying in bed watching something on the TV.

“Bobby! It’s almost 2 in the afternoon!”

“But it’s so comfortable… I can’t move…” He said pouting.

She changed out of her blazer set and threw on some comfortable lounge wear and removed her makeup in the bathroom before climbing back in bed with Bobby.

“I am exhausted.” She said letting out a yawn and wrapping herself around him like a koala.

“Are you hungry?”

She looked up at him, “You know what I really want?”

He shifted beside her and squeaked out, “What’s that?”

“Pizza.” She said with a devilish grin.

With a hint of disappointment in his eyes, he replied, “I could definitely go for pizza right now.”

After the two of them devoured a box of pizza, Annie passed out in Bobby’s arms completely exhausted from the past two days.

She woke up around 4:30 still in Bobby’s arms to find him watching some baking show on the TV.

He began to stroke her hair gently, “Have a good nap?”

“mmm yes,” She said stretching, “sorry for falling asleep on you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He placed a kiss on top of her forehead before letting out a frustrated sigh. “It literally kills me to say this,” Bobby said dramatically while clutching his chest, “But an emergency came up at the bakery and I have to go up to Glasgow tonight to sort it out.”

Annie couldn’t hide her disappointment in her voice, “Oh… you’re leaving?”

He kissed her forehead again, “I’m sorry. I wish I could stay with you in this room forever, but the real world is calling.” He said with a groan.

“I know… I just…” She sighed, “I don’t know when I’m going to see you again.”

He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair as she leaned into his touch, “December 28th, Lass.”

She pulled him in for a final kiss, one that she poured her whole heart into, before letting him go.

“I’ll text you when I’m on the train, yea?”

She nodded, “Bobby? I’m sorry this is how it has to be…”

“It’ll all work out eventually. I know it.” He said shooting her that devilishly handsome smile.

“Safe travels.” She said placing one last kiss on his cheek.

He reached up and traced his finger along her cheekbones before stopping at her nose, “Boop.”

_December 28. I can make it until then…_

~~~

Later that night, Annie met Chelsea at some trendy sushi place for some dinner and drinks.

“You look so good Chels! How’s Henrik?”

“Oh we’re good. Just taking it slow… We decided we weren't going to date other people... which I guess means he's my boyfriend! He says hi by the way.” Annie noticed she was way more fidgety than normal, and that’s a lot for Chelsea.

“Aww, I’m so happy for you.” Annie said reaching out across the table, “you two are really such a great match.”

Chelsea took her hand in Annie's which seemed to calm her down. “Thanks babes, but enough about me. How are you?? I can’t believe Lucas did that… Henrik tried talking to him but he just wouldn’t listen… It’s really put Henrik in a funk these past two days.”

“Tell Henrik he has nothing to feel sad for. Lucas is going to be just fine… I’m sure he’s having the time of his life now that he’s single. Not that it really mattered when he was in a relationship.” Annie rolled her eyes then took a sip of her drink, “I deserve better.”

“Absolutely…” Chelsea said biting her lip nervously, “I have something I need to tell you.”

“What is it, babes?”

“Henrik really struggled telling me this, and he really wanted you to know. After the news broke he felt really guilty.” She leaned forward and whispered over to Annie, “I’ve never seen him even shed a tear before Saturday and the guy was seriously torn up.”

Annie looked at her confused, “Why? It’s not like he was the one cheating…”

Chelsea leaned back into her chair, “Do you remember when Henrik returned to the show towards the end and he was really creepy and weird with you?”

Annie cringed at the memory, “Yea… I thought it was strange, especially with how smitten he was with you.”

“Exactly. I was always thinking there has to be more to the story than what he was letting on. I mean I get you’re a total catch… but you were with one of his closest friends in the villa. It didn’t make sense!”

Annie continued her look of confusion, “Okay…”

“Oh, I was right! Something was off.” She groaned before continuing, “I was so mad at Henrik when he told me, I thought ‘No way…’ but then it totally made sense!”

“Chels… I love you… but I’m about to throw this plate at your head if you don’t tell me whats going on.”

She let out a giggle, “Oops sorry, you know me… but anyways. Henrik is friends with one of the producers and she spilled all the tea to him! Apparently after we returned from Casa Amor, Hope and Lucas would sneak off during the day to a private part of the villa and hook up away from the cameras. Since Hope/Noah and You/Lucas were the two strongest and well-liked couples so close to the finale, they decided not to air in any of the episodes… The producer Henrik is friends with hated this because she really liked you and didn’t want to see you get hurt… So she convinced the rest of the crew to bring back Henrik in hopes of breaking you two up. He was really popular when he was voted off so they thought if you left Lucas, especially after what he did with Blake in Casa, to be with Henrik the public would go crazy for it. Hannah was supposed to go for Noah… but when she got in the villa she decided to do her own thing.” Chelsea said rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath before continuing, “When Henrik confronted Lucas about him and Hope, he got angry… like really angry. He denied it and basically threatened him if he said anything to you… That’s when he gave up trying to split you two up and apologized to you…”

Annie swore she could see red in that moment, “That fucking prick.”

Chelsea’s lip quivered, “I’m so sorry Annie. Henrik really did want to tell you, but Lucas is powerful… He really didn’t want to get crossed with him. Please don’t tell anyone I told you this, Henrik is terrified of Lucas.” Chelsea was practically shaking at this point.

Annie grabbed the girls hand, “It’s not your fault and it certainly is not Henrik’s either. Please don’t feel guilty about this…”

A tear fell down Chelsea’s face, “I just wish I knew then so I could save you from everything that’s going on now. I feel like the worst bra in the world.”

“Well don’t. You told me as soon as you knew… It’s not Henrik’s job to tell me either. He tried to get Lucas to be honest and tell me, but instead Lucas’s anger got the best of him.” Annie squeezed her hand again, “Seriously, Lucas is the only one to blame here.”

She looked at her with the saddest eyes Annie’s ever seen, “You’re not mad at us?”

“No, I love you two!” Annie said smiling at her, “Besides, you two did warn me to be careful with him… a lot.”

“After I found out he slept with Blake while we were gone then lied about it… I was ready to fight him.”

Annie laughed, “Oh babes, I don’t think I want to see you in a fight.”

“You probably don’t, but I would have for you. I don’t know if I could contain myself if I ever saw him.”

“Don’t worry,” Annie reassured her, “I won’t be seeing him for a long time.”

Annie’s phone buzzed on the table.

 **Eva** : Lucas decided to break his silence. I don’t know who his publicist is but let me just say… they have a lot on their plate right now.

 **Annie** : What did he say??

She looked up at Chelsea, “Apparently Lucas broke his silence,” Annie said rolling her eyes.

Chelsea groaned and frowned, “What did he say?”

“Eva’s sending me the link… Oh my god… what a joke.”

“What… tell me.” Chelsea begged.

“He posted a video on his Instagram story…”

“Seriously?” Chelsea replied with a disgusted face.

Annie turned up the volume so Chelsea could hear as well, “There’s always two sides to every story. It’s about fucking time I shared mine. Annie and I broke up, but not because of the events that took place on Saturday. This whole time our relationship has been a joke to her. Before you all go pointing fingers calling me the bad guy, maybe you should wait until you hear the full story. She’s probably fucked half of the cast from this season already. I should have taken the money and left after the finale. I’m certainly not buying this heartbroken fucking shit, she never cared about our relationship. And that’s the fucking truth. So yea, I certainly have nothing to be sorry about.”

Annie started busting out in laughter, “Oh my god… he’s drunk.”

“That didn’t even make sense!” Chelsea joined in her laughter, “Pardon my French, but what the actual fuck.”

“Hold on… let me text Eva.”

 **Annie** : He really is making this easy for me. LOL

 **Eva** : He really should have just stayed silent.

 **Annie** : Should we do anything?

 **Eva** : No, not yet. You’ve not said one bad thing about him to the media. Besides, the internet is having a field day with this. You’re looking like a saint for putting up with him all these months.

 **Annie** : Thanks Eva. Call if you need anything from me.

The waitress came over with a bottle of expensive wine, “We’re all huge fans of you two. When we called the owner and told him you two were here, he demanded that we bring out our finest wine.” She said placing the bottle down in front of them and pulling out the cork. “Also, we just saw the video. If he ever comes here and eats, I may accidentally trip and spill an entire glass of red wine all over him. I’m pretty clumsy.” She said winking at Annie as she poured the two some wine. “This is on the house. Enjoy.”

“Thank you so much.” Annie beamed at the waitress. “Do you mind taking our picture?”

“Of course!”

Annie threw her arms around Chels and kissed her cheek while the blonde smiled from ear to ear. Annie quickly edited the picture slightly and uploaded it to Instagram with the caption, “Nothing better than a supportive Bra, love you forever babes💋”

They sipped on the wine and chatted for another hour until there was nothing left on their plates or in their glasses.

“Ready to head out babes? I’m exhausted and need to get back to my room.”

“Sure, but promise me you’ll come visit soon.”

“I promise.” Annie said kissing her on the cheek. “Give Henrik my best.”

“I will. Bye, hun.”

~~~

A few days had passed since Lucas’s Instagram incident and he was keeping it low-key. He sent her a few texts apologizing, but all of his attempts to reach out to her were ignored. She did a few more interviews but always made sure not to say anything negative about him, the media did enough of that to last him a lifetime. Part of her wanted to reach out to him to check on him, things couldn't be easy... but she couldn't. 

Annie and Priya were in the car, driving down to spend the weekend with Chelsea and Lottie in London.

“Tonight I’m going to be your wing woman. You need rebound sex ASAP.”

Annie blushed, “Priya!! You know I can’t do that. Plus, tonight is just about spending time with my girls. No boys allowed.”

“I think we would make an exception…”

“No, I want tonight to just be about letting loose and having fun. Please, I really don’t want to even think about boys tonight.”

“It can be women too…”

“Priya!!”

“Okay, okay I won’t try to set you up with anyone.” She said rolling her eyes.

“Do you plan on meeting up with a certain someone while you’re in London this weekend? Perhaps the world’s sexiest librarian?” Annie laughed at the ridiculous nick-name Noah had been given by the media.

“Nope,” Priya said shaking her head, “No boys allowed, remember?”

“Ahh come on Priya. You know he asked about you last week.”

“He may have, but he hasn’t even attempted at reaching out to me. I mean, he hasn’t even followed me on any social media...”

“You know him, he’s bad at making the first move. He’s probably tried to work up the nerve to call you twenty times just today.”

“Well I’m here now, so if he wants to talk to me now is his chance.”

They finally pulled up to Chelsea’s flat and found a place to park.

The night started out great. They were at this club that was pretty well-known and thanks to Lucas' little outburst, Annie was quickly becoming more popular and famous than she could ever imagine. 

She took a selfie with all the girls and posted it with the caption, "GNO xo”.

They were all dancing and having fun in the middle of the floor when Annie heard a familiar voice behind her.

“Brave of you to show your face here.”

Annie turned to find Blake standing there in the same cheap gold dress she wore in the villa, “Blake, always a pleasure,” she replied with a scowl before turning back to her girls.

“Uhm, I was talking to you.” She said placing a hand on her shoulder again.

“Don’t touch me.” Annie hissed at her as the people around them began to notice what was going on.

“Oh, hun. Just because Lucas didn’t want you doesn’t mean you have to be a bitch. There’s a reason he chose me over you while you were gone. And I’m not just talking about Casa, babe.” Blake said licking her lips.

Lottie began to walk over to Blake, but Annie stopped her, “It’s not worth it, Lozza." She rolled her eyes at the scene this was causing and continued, "Blake, I really don’t give a fuck what you and Lucas have or haven’t done behind my back. I’m clearly out having a good time with my friends, now if you could excuse me.” Annie said trying to slip past her, but Blake used her body to prevent her from doing so.

“You may have everyone else fooled, but not me. Lucas told me everything. At least we can finally be together now that he’s finally got enough sense to be with a real woman.”

Annie rolled her eyes so hard they were about to pop out of her head, “A real woman doesn’t have to dress like a cheap slut to get the attention of a pathetic loser.”

_Fuck… I should not have said that._

Blake raised her arm and made the motion to hit her in the face, but Annie caught her wrist before making contact, “I don’t suggest trying that again.” She hissed before letting go of her wrist. Soon security escorted her out after apologizing profusely to Annie and the rest of the girls.

“Babes, that was incredible.” Chelsea squealed.

“I don’t know how you didn’t hit her.” Lottie frowned, “That was so not cool.”

Priya looked concerned, “Are you okay?”

“Guys… I’m fine!” Annie beamed, “Besides, who cares what she thinks?”

The rest of the night went smoothly as the girls just had fun dancing and being with each other, just like in the villa. By the end of the night, the video of their “fight” went viral and all the news outlets were running with the story that Lucas was cheating on her with Blake in addition to Hope.

She decided to check her messages while she was in the taxi.

 **Eva** : You couldn’t have handled yourself any better. When you caught her wrist… I mean power moves babe. (strong arm emoji)

\---

 **Bobby** : Are you okay?? Call me if you need me…

 **Annie** : Thanks, Bobby. I’m really okay. Thanks for checking on me.😊

 **Bobby** : What are friends for… 😉


End file.
